(EMMA'S POV)

I rushed home as fast as I could. I texted whoever I had the numbers for, telling them to meet me here ASAP. I stressed that it was an emergency. Given that I've been trying to wake Kit, I'm sure they'll come. When I pulled up, Allison and Lydia were getting out of a car. I abandoned the truck (almost forgetting Charlie) and headed for the house.

"What's wrong?" Allison asked, the two following me. "Is something wrong with Kit?"

"Yep." We entered the house. I sat Charlie down and then faced them. "And I need your help to save her." I turned and headed for Kit's room.

"What do you mean?"

"This whole thing has been a trick. The Nogitsune is trying to get Kit out of the picture." I walked into her room and stopped next to the bed. Kit was still lying in the same place, claws out and eyes still glowing. "He's still tricking her."

"How?"

I looked at Allison. "I think he's tricking her into staying in there, inside her head."

"That's why she's not coming out," Lydia said, seeming to be thinking.

"You think he's in there with her?" Allison asked.

"I don't know. But I think we can pull her out."

"How?"

I looked at the two of them. "We need to remind her who she is and what we mean to her. We need to convince her to come back. Before we really do lose her."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Allison asked. "She doesn't remember anything that we could tell her."

"But that's the thing," I said. "She does remember. Ever word you say might cause her to remember you, to remember herself."

"What do we do?" Lydia asked, looking me dead in the eyes.

"Just start talking about things that you guys did with her, things you remember, events. But what would really help would be if you remember something you said to her word for word. Something memorable for both of you."

"Like when Peter bit me."

"Or when we all killed Peter," Allison said.

Lydia nodded. "Or when Peter used me to bring himself back to life."

"Or when we all stopped Jackson."

"Wait," I said. "Go back. You're the second person today to mention Peter's resurrection. Why? Was Kit there?"

"Well…no," Lydia said. "Actually, where was she?"

"With Isaac," Scott's voice echoed through the room and we all looked at him. "They were in the subway. It was a full moon. Derek said that he came back after bringing Peter back and found her on the ground. She had blood coming out of her ears. Isaac said her scream shattered the lights."

"All because Peter was brought back?" I questioned.

"They had some kind of connection. Because of him biting Lydia and what Kate did to her."

"What happened after that?"

"We all were at the sheriff's station. With Jackson."

I sighed. "Okay. What about before Peter was brought back?"

"We were at Lydia's birthday party," Allison said.

"Yeah," Scott sighed. "When she poisoned all her guests with wolf's bane."

Lydia scoffed. "I had no idea what I was doing."

I was starting to see a reoccurring theme. "You all got poisoned?" And Scott and Allison nodded.

"Yeah, we were all seeing things," Scott said. "Including Kit."

"Do any of you remember what you said to her that night?" I looked at all of them. They shook their heads. "Okay. Tell her what you do know. Talk to her. Start when you woke up that day, just walk her through the whole thing."

"Okay," Scott said. "Well, I went to pick her up-"

"No. Tell her." I pointed at Kit. "She needs to hear this, not me."

(KIT'S POV)

"How am I supposed to do that?" I asked her, it, whatever. The thing claiming to have been in me for most of my life. Claiming to have saved me from Stiles. Holding me hostage in my own mind. Great track record so far.

"There are many ways this can be achieved," it said. "The most affective is to remember."

"You already said that. Twice." I was about ready to find something to throw at her. Then the room changed. The walls went from white to the walls of my house. I saw myself, not the Kirin spirit thing. But me. The old me. She walked out of the hallway and went to the fridge.

I reached in and grabbed a bottled water. The door swung shut as I snapped the lid open. And then my hands stopped. "What do you think you're doing?" She turned around and saw Peter standing on the other side of the island. He had appeared out of thin air. Yet she knew he was there.

He smirked knowingly. "I asked you first."

I sat my water down. "It was you."

"You're going to have to be a little more specific."

"That night. You didn't just get inside Lydia's head," I said. He sat, almost ignoring me, now a foot from my face. I put my palms on the counter top and leaned in. "Because she and I were both there."

"You were always the smart one." He looked up at the other me. "Just always a little too late." He drew out the last word.

"Says the dead man." So this was before he came back.

He scoffed in mild offence as he sat back. "We both know this is only temporary."

"I know. Which is why you needed me out of the way. You forced me to take the serum."

"I wouldn't go that far. You're the one who wanted it. Think about it, Kit." He spit out my name. "You've never done anything you didn't want to. Deep down, anyway."

He raised his eye brows in remembrance. "I will say, I'm not surprised by how far you'll go to protect your own."

My hands balled into fists. "Lydia's a part of that, too."

"Really? When did you decide this? Because…this whole time she's been mine. While you were off…" he pretended to be searching for the words. "…doing whatever it is Kirin's do when they're not doing their job."

"How do you even remember me?"

He smiled. "That's a story that'll be better told once I'm alive. You know, in person."

"Then I guess we'll never know." I shrugged and walked out in the living room, taking my water with me.

"We'll see about that."

I turned around and looked at him. "The devil never got a second chance at life, just a first chance at hell. So what makes you think you'll get yours? As it stands, you had this coming."

"So do you." He stood and walked toward me. "Do you really think your cousin's forgotten what you did to his pack?" he said, emphasizing the word 'pack'. "Or rather…what you let happen?" Okay. Now what is he talking about? Is he talking about Sam?

"I had no idea he'd do that."

"Oh, yes you did. Every morning, as you painstakingly debated on whether or not to tell him what you are, you knew." He slowly began to circle the other me.

"Knew what?"

"The evil…behind every smile. The lies, behind every word. And the devil, behind every romantic look. Deep down, you hated him from the start. Because he reminded you." He stopped right behind the other me. "Because he reminded you of me!"

"No, Peter. That's where you're wrong." I turned around and looked at him. "Because he's way worse than you are." I pulled back and through my water bottle as hard as I could at him. He disappeared into a puff of smoke as the bottle went through him.

The room flickered to white again. Sure enough, the Kirin me had returned. "What was that?"

"That was a memory. One of you and Peter Hale."

"No duh. Why did you show me that?"

"I didn't. I can't show you memories; only allow them to be discovered on their own."

I wanted to pull my hair out. "What does that mean?"

"You remembered it on your own."

Before I could ask another question, the room flicked away. It went back to my house. The other me was wearing six inch heels and a mini skirt. The door bell rang. "I'm coming!" I sighed, making my way to the door. I opened the door, and see Scott. He looked slightly worried.

"Is everything okay?" he asked. "I thought I heard something."

"Oh," I straightened, glancing over my shoulder. "Spider. It's okay, though. I got it." I left the door and walked to the kitchen counter to grab my phone. He was staring at the other me with an odd expression. "What?"

"You look…nice."

"As opposed to normal. When I look terrible."

His eyes went wide. "What? No-"

I laughed. "It's okay, Scott. I'm just giving you a hard time. I was trying to look younger so I didn't stick out. I'm not exactly in high school anymore."

He shrugged. "Could've fooled me," he smiled.

I smirked. "You're just saying that because you like older girls."

"True," he admitted, "Allison is older. But even if I didn't want to be with her, I wouldn't go out with you."

"Why?"

"Well…"

"I remind you of your mom, don't I? Am I really that old?"

"No, no, no. It's not your age. It's your personality. You have an…old sprit?"

"I believe it's soul. Old soul."

"Whatever." Then he nodded toward the door. "Come on. You're driving."

(Emma's POV)

"What happened next?" I asked Scott.

"She drove us to Lydia's party," he said. "We found Stiles when we got there. We were talking about Jackson. About who might be controlling him. Then we found Allison."

"Yeah," Allison said. "We were the only ones there."

"Somehow Kit and Stiles got in an argument."

"About what?" I asked.

"About how old Kit was," Scott smiled, thinking back on it. "But she was teasing him. Then we called some people, told them to come to the party. Soon the whole place was full. I lost track of Kit after that."

"Yeah, me, too," Allison said.

"But Stiles didn't," Aaron walked into the room. "He told me that he was the one who snapped Kit out of her hallucination. Then they found everyone else."

"Wait," Lydia said. "Before that, I saw her talking to Stiles. And then I spoke to her."

(KIT'S POV)

I was in a new vision but I was wearing the same clothes. I was now at someone's house, at what looked like a party. The other me was walking through the crowd, Stiles following. "My appearance is twenty-three. Tops." I winked at him before walking away.

A second later he yelled, "Wait, what? What do you mean appearance?" And then he was on my heels. "You can make yourself look younger? How old are you? And, why don't we know your name yet?"

"How do you know my name's not Sara?"

"Uh, because you told me it wasn't."

"Did I?" I said in mock forgetfulness. I stopped, Stiles slamming into the back of me. Her eyes were fixed on something, so I followed her gaze. Lydia stood at the punch bowl filling glasses. The other me tried to push Stiles away, but he wouldn't go. I looked at him, annoyed. "It's Kit."

He froze. "Whoa, wait. Your name is Kit?"

I glanced back at Lydia and then looked at him. "Yeah, why?"

His mouth hung open. "I-I don't-I just."

I sighed. "Spit it out, Stilinski."

"-you look like a Kit," he said. "It suits you."

"Thanks…?"

"Is it short for something?"

"And here I thought we were having a moment. Go find someone else to badger for a while." I turned around and walked away. I just made a wide circle around all the gyrating bodies, keeping an eye on Lydia. She finished filling her glasses as I walked up to her.

She picked up the tray of glasses and turned toward me, stopping when she finally noticed me. She looked wide eyed, slightly panicked. I cleared my throat. "Do you remember me?" I asked. Her eyes looked me over, examining every inch. Then she pushed out her lips and tossed her head in a flippant manner as she looked me in the eyes.

"Should I?" she half way scoffed, seemingly disgusted by my presence. This isn't the Lydia I met.

"Guess I got you confused with someone else."

"Guess so." She took a few steps until she was equal with me and then stopped. She looked me over again, but only out of the corner of her eye. "You know…it's rude to try and out shine the birthday girl. Go find someone else's party to crash."

The scene turned to white. But this time, only for a second. I was quickly thrust into another flashback. I was at the same place, but something was different. The other me was in the house, with my back against the wall. Tears ran down my face. Stiles was there, standing in front of me.

"Hey, easy. It's okay," he said. I didn't say anything, just stood there. "You see something, too?"

"Did you see them?"

"No." He cleared his throat. "I saw something else."

"What happened to you? We need to find Scott." I wiped away the tears and then straightened my outfit. I looked at Stiles. "You saw something, too?"

"Yeah…?"

"But you're human."

"Ouch," he said, offended. "Thank you, for the…reminder." The other me ignored him and ran out of the house, pushing past people. As soon as I hit the deck, Scott and Aaron ran up to us.

"That was a wild ride," Aaron said. "Anyone else looking to go again?"

"No!" Scott, Stiles, and I all said at the same time. I looked around the pool deck. But something caught all of our attention. Someone, a guy, was yelling that he couldn't swim as two guys tossed him into the pool. Every one watched and laughed as he flailed in the water, drowning. But in a matter of seconds, Jackson appeared at the edge of the pool and pulled him out.

Once he was out of the pool, Jackson left, but the guy stayed. He stood and looked at the crowd. "What are you looking at?" he said, angrily. He glared a few seconds longer and then started walking. But then he stopped when he looked at the other me.

He scowled at me and then pushed past, his shoulder hitting mine. I watched him walk past us and leave the house. "Who was that?"

"Matt," Scott said. "Why?" He looked at me just as someone yelled: "Cops are here! Party's over!" And then there was a mad rush to the door.

"Because he's controlling the Kanima," I said as people pushed past.

"What?" Stiles looked at me. "How do you know?"

"Trust me."

Then the room went white. I was then again with the Kirin me. "Why does this keep happening?"

"An outside force is causing you to-"

"No. This. Me coming back here. Why aren't' I going home? Why am I not waking up?"

"I told you. You have to remember me," she said.

"Yeah, well how can I remember you if I never knew you?" I turned around like I was going to walk away. Not only is there nowhere for me to go, but I got the sense that something was wrong. "I never knew you." I turned around and looked at her. "You said it yourself, I never knew you."

"I do not understand."

"How can I remember something I didn't ever know?" I asked. And she didn't answer. "You're not real. This isn't real."

She smiled. "Well done, Kit." Her appearance changed. She was no longer a reflection of me. Now she looked like Stiles. "You found me."

"You," I said accusingly.

"Me," he smiled.

I thought, everything falling into place. "That's why Charlie was unharmed and somewhere where he'd be found. You wanted me to look for him. You wanted me at the station when that bomb went off." His smile only intensified. "You wanted Derek to cause me to have a flashback."

"You're too desperate to find out who you were that you're not thinking about who you are. Stiles knows who you are."

"How are you here?"

"Oh, I'm not really here. But you think I am, and…what was it you'd say?" he paused in thought. Then his eyes set on me with pure evil backing them. "It's the thought that counts."

(EMMA'S POV)

"So you found out Matt was controlling Jackson," I said. "Then what?"

"Then she left," Scott said. "She went to find Derek."

"But she never found him," Aaron said. "Just his Betas chained up in the subway car."

I thought, hard. "How'd she know that Peter had come back?"

"Guys," Allison said, her tone changing. I looked at her. "Look." She pointed at Kit. Kit hadn't moved since we started, but now she had black blood trickling out of her nose and the corner of her eyes.

"That's not good," I said as I got on the bed next to her. I held her face in my hands, looking at her more closely. "We're running out of time."

"What do we do?"

"Maybe Scott's roar could bring her out of it," Aaron said.

"No," I sat back and looked at them. "That had the opposite affect last time. Finish the story. How did Kit know about Peter?"

"I don't know!" Aaron was starting to freak out.

"We don't know," Scott said. "She screamed and then past out. And she was like that when Derek found her." I looked back at Kit and then at the others. I looked at each one of their worried faces. But my eyes landed on Lydia.

"Lydia," I said and she looked at me. "She had a vision once, of her talking to Aaron about you forcing her to shift. I'm going to need you to do that again." I climbed off the bed.

"What?!" Lydia looked at Kit. "I can't."

I walked up to her. "Yes, you can and you will. But this time, you'll be forcing her to shift back to human, to come back to us."

"I don't even know how I did it before."

"Exactly. You didn't know what you were doing and you did it. You made the Kirin shift into a tiger against her will. Whether that was because of Peter or out of your sheer will doesn't matter. Right now, Kit's life depends on you doing it again. I believe that you two still have that connection. How else do you think it was that you found her in the woods after she had been missing for a month?"

"I found her because I…" she spoke numbly. "I don't know, I just knew she was there. I screamed."

"Yes. And you're going to find her again." I stepped behind Lydia.

"No," she turned and looked at me. "The night I brought back Peter. I screamed."

"Kit must've heard it," Scott said. "Like she did all the other times."

Aaron nodded. "And that's how she knew Peter was back."

"Okay." I put my hands on Lydia and spun her so she faced Kit. "Do it, Lydia. Scream." I could feel her hesitation, sense her fear. I'm not sure if she was more afraid of messing up or of it not working. But this is our last shot. If this doesn't work, I don't think anything else will.

Lydia sucked in a breath, letting it out in a Banshee's scream. It was so loud I had to cover my ears, and I'm sure the others did, too. The picture frame on the nightstand broke and fell over. Cracks formed in the windows and splintered across. When Lydia stopped screaming, we all remained still. All eyes were on Kit.

"Did it work?" Lydia asked. I walked over to Kit. It appeared that the liquid coming out of her nose and eyes had stopped, but that could be just an illusion. And for a split second, my heart sank, thinking that it didn't work. That Kit was gone forever, this time.

The green in Kit's eyes grew brighter, until they were almost too bright to look at. And then just as fast, the color was gone, her eyes returning to normal. Her eyes lids closed as I looked down and saw that her claws were retracting. Kit inhaled deeply, opening her eyes. I heard the others sigh with relief, realizing that it had worked. I did the same thing, unaware that I was holding my breath.

I looked at Lydia. "It worked," I smiled. Kit started sitting up so I helped her, leaning her back against the head board. She put her hand on her head and groaned. "Are you okay?" She looked at me, like she was just realizing I was here.

"Please tell me you guys are real," she said.

Aaron scoffed. "Yeah, so real that I think I'm gonna need a new pair of drawers." Everyone laughed, including Kit. She continued to keep her hand on her head, over her right temple. I'm sure all that gave her a terrible headache.

"I'll have the Sheriff tell my dad and Derek that she's okay," Allison said, before disappearing out of the room.

Aaron walked to the end of the bed, putting his hands on the frame and looking at Kit. "Don't ever do that again."

"You're telling me," she sighed.

"Yeah, like, I mean it. Like, just-just don't ever have another flashback, if that's what it takes. Better yet, just don't remember us. I think I'm cool with that, now." He looked around the room. "Anyone else?" Scott and Lydia seemed to shrug him off. I don't think anyone takes Aaron seriously.

"What happened in there?" Scott asked Kit.

She huffed, like that was going to be a very long story. "The Nogitsune was in my head, trying to get me to believe this crazy story. And I did, at first."

"What made you stop believing it?"

"I'm assuming that was you guys." She glanced around at us. "I don't know what you said, but…. I kept having flashbacks, one right after the other. When I realized what the Nogitsune was doing, it put me in another flashback. At the end of it, I heard Lydia scream. But I thought it was just in my head."

Kit looked at Lydia. "How'd you know to do that?"

"Emma told me to," she replied.

Kit then looked at me. "How'd you know that would work? How'd you know I was in trouble?"

"It's gonna take a while to explain," I said. "It was something Derek said." I glanced around, just as Allison came back into the room. "But this was a team effort."

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: the flashback scenes are from Chapter 19: Party Guessed; of Guardian: Trust the Instinct (Bk 2)